Facing widespread criticism for planning to jet off to Switzerland during a budget crisis, Paterson announced yesterday that he had canceled his four-day junket to the swank resort of Davos this week.

The announcement came only hours after an editorial in yesterday’s Post blasted Paterson over the trip.

“I thought it over, and I thought perhaps it would be a better idea to go at another time,” Paterson said during a news conference here with Senator-designate Kirsten Gillibrand.

“[I’ll] send a couple of assistants and stay right here with the leaders of the Legislature and work on the budget.”

Later, a Paterson spokeswoman changed the story, saying no staff members would attend the conference.

The Democratic governor had been roundly criticized after plans for the tax-funded trip to the World Economic Forum were first reported in Sunday’s Post.

“That’s a good idea,” Paterson said, when asked about the criticism. “I think I’ll stay here.”

Paterson said he had hoped the Davos trip would help efforts “to entice business to New York.”

The junket would have been Paterson’s fourth out-of-state trip since Election Day and his third since unveiling his $121 billion tax-and-slash budget proposal in December. The state is facing a combined $15.8 billion budget deficit over the next 15 months.

The trip would’ve also come on the heels of his disastrous effort to pick a replacement for former Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“We’re glad the governor finally came to his senses,” said John McArdle, a spokesman for Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Long Island.